Mindset Guide - Positivity for Success

Have you heard the one about the crazy guy who quit his lucrative job to start a business in a field he knew nothing about? That guy was me. In 2002, I left my perfectly good job at a City firm to start my own property company. Considering I knew nothing about property, or running a business for that matter, and all I had in my bank account was enough cash to get me through one month, this decision seemed mad. It raised more than a few eyebrows among those who knew me. But I didn’t care. I knew I was going to succeed and I told myself every single day that it was going to be okay. Better than okay, in fact, I told myself over and over again that I was going to achieve everything I ever wanted. I had a relentless desire to be successful, and a relentless belief in my own abilities to create that success. What’s astonishing is that I had no foundation for this belief whatsoever – no entrepreneurial experience, no training, and no comfortable wad of cash as a cushion. But that didn’t matter to me. I had total faith in my abilities, and an underlying confidence and determination that meant I wasn’t afraid of leaving my comfortable job, not even for a second. I started by turning my house into an HMO (house in multiple occupation), letting out rooms and easily covering the mortgage and bills with the rent I received. Aged just 24, I had no mortgage or bills to pay and could focus on growing my property portfolio. Within 10 years, I’d built a portfolio worth more than £20 million and was running a group of successful property companies. Back in 2002, by telling myself every day I was going to make it, I was simply running on instinct. I didn’t consciously say to myself ‘ what I need is a bit of positive thinking’. There wasn’t anything conscious about it. I just knew on a deep level that telling myself I would make it was the only way of ensuring I actually would make it.